Since 2009, Tom Gibbons, CSP, has shared insights on faith, pop culture, and seminary life in the Kicking and Screaming blog here at Busted Halo. On May 19, 2012, Tom was ordained a Paulist priest at St. Paul the Apostle Church in New York City. He will begin serving St. Peter's Catholic Church in Toronto, Canada beginning in July 2012.

In the Old Testament Class for which the paper was being written, we discussed how the personification of divine insight in the Hebrew Scriptures is often referred to as “Woman Wisdom.” But sitting in a waiting room to find out if I had cancer, I could not help but wonder if I was also being joined by “Dame Irony.”

I have to admit – for my first homily in Toronto, I basically wanted to tell a few jokes, say “Jesus loves you,” and then sit down. The problem with that plan came when I started reading the newspaper this week. I arrived in town on Wednesday and there was this story about this mass shooting at a crowded block party in Toronto in which two people were killed and 24 were injured.